


Of Pebbles and Flippers

by EmptySighs



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M, XiuHan - Freeform, lumin - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-23
Updated: 2015-10-23
Packaged: 2018-04-27 18:44:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5059840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmptySighs/pseuds/EmptySighs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luhan needs to find that one perfect pebble to make his feelings known.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Pebbles and Flippers

**Author's Note:**

> I just really want a fic wherein xiuhan are penguins, and this came off originally from one of my tweets about penguin proposals and one of my friends actually pushed me to write this, but I wrote it anyway since I really wanted to read something like this.

Luhan is not really sure how long he has been searching the beach for the perfect pebble that he has been looking for; well, it has been three days – if penguins have the idea of the rotation of Earth in its axis, that is. He kicks the pebbles under his tiny feet. Minseok deserves the perfect pebble since he is perfection himself, to Luhan’s eyes at least.

 

The pebbles that have caught his attention are either awkward in shape or not in the right color, others don’t have the right texture that Luhan is looking for or they just don’t feel right.

 

“How am I going to propose to Minseok now?” Luhan has his head hanging low between his almost nonexistent shoulders while flopping his flippers aimlessly in frustration. He becomes more worried as he thinks of the most beautiful pebble being in the hands of another penguin, or what if the one who found the right one has plans of proposing to Minseok too. Luhan quickly pads through the beach again, roaming his eyes on the ground.

 

Similar to what happened in the past days, the sun is already setting in the horizon and Luhan is still empty handed.

 

He waddles back to the headquarters seeing a bunch of other penguins –including Minseok –huddled up on a chunk of ice, laughing and teasing Baekhyun on being Chanyeol’s mate earlier today. Chanyeol must have found the right pebble then.

“Tell me what happened?” Jongdae chimes, slightly wacking Baekhyun with one of his flippers. “I bet you’ll have ten fluffy baby penguins by tomorrow!”

Luhan is close enough to notice the blush filming Baekhyun’s face. “Conception doesn’t work like that.” The bullied penguin answers.

“No luck?” Luhan is surprised by Minseok’s question directed at him.

“W-what luck?” He looks down to the toes of his feet –the only part of his feet that he could see since his tummy is blocking a part of the ground.

“I heard from Jongdae you’re on a quest.” Minseok answers in a whisper.

Luhan looks up to see Minseok’s face, which is slightly hopeful… Luhan is suddenly confused. “A quest?” He tries to play it cool.

“Yes!” Minseok still keeps his voice down. “They say that you’ve been looking for the pebble.” He nudges Luhan. “Who is it?”

Luhan can feel his cheeks burning and so he looks down again, hoping Minseok isn’t paying attention to his face. “I-I wasn’t.” He turns on his heels, tripping lightly. “I need to help with the ration of fishes.” Although, he is lying for he plans to sulk until he is able to search the beach for the perfect pebble again.

Even before the sun fully rises, Luhan starts on his quest, searching the other end of the beach and back to the parts he already searched.

 

Time ticks and ticks and there is still no perfect pebble in sight. By this time, Luhan has his heart being dragged around already. It’s going to be another unfavorable day, another day he could have proposed to Minseok. “If only i’ve gotten the right pebble.” 

 

Luhan rests on the edge of an ice, his feet barely touching the water. He thinks really hard on where he could still search for the pebble, he’s very much engrossed in his thoughts that he doesn’t even noticed someone coming out of the water just beside his feet.

 

Water splashes all over him, pulling him back to reality. “Minseok?”

 

Minseok drops the two fishes out of his beaks and kicks one towards Luhan. “I’m helping with fish rations today.” He says with a straight face, like it is something normal to do. But this is not normal, for you only hunt and deliver a fish to your mate.

 

“You don't have to directly give it to me. I can get from the center . I am supposed to--”

 

“I’m hunting. You're here. I saw you. Might as well give it now so i don't have to go there.” Minseok cuts off and argues. He quickly dives into the water again before Luhan could even say thank you.

 

Luhan’s stomach feels funny, not in a way that it usually does when he is hungry. This is the same feeling he gets whenever Minseok does little things like that… Like when Minseok drapes one of his flippers over Luhan’s shoulder one too many times in the past.

 

The encounter kicks Luhan’s already discouraged heart to rapid beating inside its cage again. He consumes the fish gifted to him in just three bites and then gets his feet going.

 

Luhan believes he has checked about a couple hundred pebbles already, but the closest runner up he had has cracks in all the wrong places that he deemed it not the right one.

 

The heat of the sun and its yellow to orange tones are now gone, leaving the silvery moon reflecting on the silent waters.

 

“No luck?” Minseok suddenly pops out of nowhere.

 

Luhan shakes his head and continues walking towards the head quarters, but Minseok catches his right flipper before he could get farther away. For a moment, Luhan can swear that his heart skips a beat. “I’ll show you something.” Minseok says and then Luhan finds himself being dragged away from their homes.

 

“Minseok, where are we going?” As much as Luhan wants this flipper-holding moment to last, he can't help but be curious about their destination.

 

“See that huge rock?” Minseok points at where he is exactly pertaining, indeed a huge rock a few more steps away. “there.”

 

When they reach the said rock, Minseok quickly drops his hold of Luhan, which makes the other quite disappointed, and starts unstacking what seems to be a prearranged group of rocks and pebbles. 

 

Minseok keeps his back to Luhan and continues rummaging, until he finally finds what he’s looking for and a squeak escapes him. He immediately turns to his heels to face Luhan and drops the pebble near the other’s feet.

 

Luhan then lays his eyes on the perfect pebble, the one he has been searching for days. The one he wants to proposed to Minseok with. But why is Minseok giving this to him just like that… “That's yours. You found it.”

 

“I know. I’m giving it to you.” Minseok answers, nudging the pebble closer to Luhan’s feet.

 

“I can find my own. Really. Just give it to whom you were planning to propose to.” Luhan kicks the pebble lightly back to Minseok’s feet.

 

“That's why I'm giving it to to you, dummy.” Minseok picks up the pebble and walks closer to Luhan, dropping the smooth pink stone with shape of a heart just in front of Luhan.

 

“You’re giving it to me?” Luhan unconsciously says in a tone slightly higher than his normal one. “You’re proposing to me?”

 

“I think so… So i think you have to pick it up and accept me…” Minseok suddenly looks down, feeling a little dejected by Luhan’s responses. “Unless you're still planning to look for the right one.. then you could just use that… At least, i was of help?”

 

“Are you kidding me?” Luhan exclaims and picks up the pebble off the ground. “I was actually looking for the right pebble to give to you!”

 

With that, Minseok snaps his head up. “You were?”

 

“I was, but the thing is that you already got the pebble that I thought you'd like.”

 

Minseok looks at the pebble in Luhan’s hold and jumps on his spot. “You accepted it!” He says, pointing at the pebble excitedly.

 

“I did! I did!” Luhan can’t help but laugh at how absurd the turn of events are but nonetheless he’s feeling really elated. It seems like there’s a sudden pull between them and Luhan finds himself enveloped in Minseok’s flippers with the pink pebble as the symbol of their budding love between them.

 

Minseok is stuck in his circle of friends again, having no choice but to listen to endless bickerings and love confessions flying out of nowhere. How he wishes he could just be with Luhan, but his partner is on his fish ration duty. Don’t get him wrong, he still loves his friends, but sometimes Chanyeol and Baekhyun are just too lovey-dovey and Jongdae is still in denial of his bitterness.

 

Minseok has not been paying attention anymore until Baekhyun nudges him and directs him to look back. He is confronted with Luhan carrying a fish and then slowly placing it on the ground. Their relationship is still a secret to them, but Luhan is making it known and Minseok can feel his cheeks beginning to get warm.

 

“I bet you’ll have ten fluffy baby penguins by tomorrow!” Jongdae exclaims and starts a series of flippers clapping from the background, but Minseok and Luhan can’t truly care because with ten fluffy baby penguins or none, they will have each other until the sun stops rising and setting.

 

comments and kudos

would always be very much appreciated! <3


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